What is soul music?
Once Ray Charles (known as 'The High Priest of Soul") and Sam Cooke ("The King of Soul") got soul on the airwaves in the '50s and early '60s, everything changed. Soul singers were the ultimate inspiration - with a combination of courage, spirit, talent, and social intelligence, they showed other musicians that it was possible not only to completely drop their guard and expose their soul, but to get on top of a mountain and tell the entire world about it. Just like how scientists "stand on the shoulders of giants" to make the next discovery, every soulful singer that came later stood on the shoulders of these soul singers.
Soul music originated in black churches in the 1950s and '60s, so the soul singer sings with a passion that a gospel singer has for God (you can hear the connection in "Touch The Hem Of His Garment"). "Soul" means "the immortal essence of a living being," so gospel singing is probably closer to a strict definition of soul music, given the transcendent religious experience, but gospel music ignores the secular experience that we are all familiar with - falling in love with women is much more appealing than falling in love with God for most of us (not to mention more lucrative). So the name "soul music" became used for a sort of secularized version of gospel music. Because of this grounding in all-out body-and-soul impassioned singing, there's no shield between a soul singer and a listener, making it easier to connect with them, so it's no surprise that 7 of the top 10 greatest singers (as determined by Rolling Stone) are soul singers - James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, Ray Charles, and Aretha Franklin.
Although the lyrics changed from religious to secular, soul singing transcends lyrics, as you can hear in "Soul - Hidden Track." That indescribable soul sound is derived from spirituals, hymns, and ultimately slave work songs, so this music is based on the most tragic type of human conflict I can imagine (slavery) and likewise the most joyful feeling I can imagine (emancipation). When a soul singer sings, even if it's about having a good time, they are drawing from the intensely emotional black church environment that developed during and after slavery.
A soul singer's timbre can sound anywhere from relatively smooth (Aretha Franklin) to woodwind-y (Sam Cooke) to brass-y (Otis Redding). Soul singing features a lot of sweeping vocal runs, large intervals in pitch, and volume changes, so it can feel like being on a rollercoaster of emotions. It's common for soul singers to push their voices to the limit until it almost sounds like a scream. But soul can also be found in the instrumentation, most obviously in the violins and horns, but also in the drums, bass, guitar, and piano. In fact, the spirit of "soul" permeated the entire band, and even the production crew. Most of these songs were recorded with the entire band playing in unison, and in general the music would be at least somewhat improvised, so every member of the band is contributing their transient feeling to the song, and because of this, every recording would sound somewhat different. When the producer tried to perfect a song, they would not say "do this until you hit these notes perfectly at the right time," it was more like a vague emotional direction, and sometimes the producer would just record dozens or hundreds of takes until they heard "the one." A combination of magic and luck.
#1. Sam Cooke - "Bring It On Home To Me" (1962)
As I read about soul music, this song came up over and over again as the iconic soul song. For anyone familiar with the song, it's no surprise. The piano is gorgeous, the drums are perfect, and Sam Cooke's singing is in the classic soul style that I described above. Well, it is the classic soul style. Sam does many of the background vocals on his songs, too, which was actually significant artistically and from a recording standpoint at the time. You can really feel the ebb and flow, thanks in large part to the bass walking up and down. So this song basically defines soul music. Sam Cooke popularized soul music as he was a very astute observer of popular culture and human psychology, which probably helped in his career as an entrepreneur (he owned his own record company). But if there was a true pioneer of soul music, it was Ray Charles.
#2. Ray Charles - "Georgia On My Mind" (1960)
Can an introduction possibly tug at the heartstrings any more? It's like finding out about a death in the family and finally accepting it after two years, all condensed into 15 seconds. All of these singers have unbelievable control of their dynamics, and make good use of them, but Ray was the master. Your average singer will sing at more or less the same volume. These soul singers use the volume of their voice, on top of the tone and pitch, to convey conflict and resolution. They can do this by changing their voice, or by moving away from or towards the microphone, which Ray Charles does a lot to make it seem like he's leaving or coming towards you. Ray performed this song as a sort of peace offering after the civil rights movement, in 1979, when Georgia adopted it as the state song.
I feel like I need to make a special note about Ray Charles, because he's more than just the #2 singer of all time (Aretha Franklin is #1). He (and Aretha) should not even be on this list. "Greatest" is not good enough - they're from a different galaxy. I'll get to Aretha, but even compared to her, Ray has a ridiculous range of timbres (or rather just one extremely flexible timbre) and an other-worldly control of nuance, which is part of why Ray is also known, not as "Genius," but as "The Genius."
I feel like I need to make a special note about Ray Charles, because he's more than just the #2 singer of all time (Aretha Franklin is #1). He (and Aretha) should not even be on this list. "Greatest" is not good enough - they're from a different galaxy. I'll get to Aretha, but even compared to her, Ray has a ridiculous range of timbres (or rather just one extremely flexible timbre) and an other-worldly control of nuance, which is part of why Ray is also known, not as "Genius," but as "The Genius."
Make sure this one's turned up, and just listen to the soundscape of various tone, timbre, and volume in Ray's voice. But those are only three of a countless number of dimensions. It's like when Sound of Music first went from black-and-white to color, except it happens from each word to the next. Simply unparalleled in so many ways. I believe that Ray Charles was only capable of communicating such a deep range of feeling because he experienced an exceptionally trying set of circumstances. His brother drowned when he was five. His vision began to deteriorate soon after until he completely lost sight at the age of seven. He was classically trained in piano, and had to learn by reading braille on the left to play with the right hand, and vice-versa. And his mother died when he was 14, which was the second of the two major tragedies in his life, the other being the death of his brother. Ray went on to play music, but lived in borderline poverty for years, going days without food. So when you hear his voice sounding tragic or bitter, it doesn't matter who wrote the lyrics - when Ray Charles sings them, they're personal: "Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away, now it looks as though they're here to stay."
From a gentle kiss on the cheek to a bag of rocks in the throat, and everywhere in between. This is just one more sub-array of Ray's endless array of tricks. Midway through his career he switched from (mainly) composing original songs to interpreting (covering) songs.
#3. Otis Redding - "Change Is Gonna Come" (1965)
I think out of all the soul singers, Otis Redding has perhaps the most distinct timbre. It's almost like he's playing a special instrument, that's a mix between a human voice and a tenor saxophone. This is actually a Sam Cooke song, and (many agree) is one of the most beautiful songs ever written. It was very common in the soul scene to interpret other artists' songs, because as we saw with Ray Charles, the interpretations could be so creative as to be in a sense original. Otis' version makes really nice use of a guitar full of vibrato and a powerful horns section. He always sang like it was his last song, never for the money. But he did use the money - in 1967 Otis owned 200 suits and 400 pairs of shoes, and sold more albums than Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin combined.
#4. Etta James - "I'd Rather Go Blind" (1969)
Etta James had a beautiful, intimate, gritty kind of soul. That picture is from 1969 when she recorded this song at Muscle Shoals. The guitar has a really nice twangy, soulful sound with its own personality. I can almost guarantee that this guitar, and much of the rest of the song, was improvised. There's an awesome documentary on Netflix called Muscle Shoals about a recording studio in Alabama. The biggest acts from all across the world (i.e. The Rolling Stones) came to get that Muscle Shoals sound, which they thought was coming from a group of black musicians, given the soulful sound, so you could imagine their surprise when they found that these local musicians were creating that vibe. But nobody was disappointed.
#5. Aretha Franklin - "I Say A Little Prayer For You" (1968)
Aretha has more power and range than Etta James, and her timbre is a little smoother. This was actually not a planned recording - Aretha was just playing around with her backup singers, The Sweet Inspirations, and this fun spirit clicks with the music so well. The music and lyrics of "I Say A Little Prayer For You" were written by Burt Bacharach originally for Dionne Warwick. If you listen to Dionne's version you can get a good sense of how talented Aretha is. This version was produced by a hot-shot executive named Jerry Wexler, who soon after brought Aretha to Muscle Shoals, where her career began to skyrocket. I'm going to break this song down to pieces, because it deserves it. I've heard it countless times now and I still notice new details. I recommend listening to the song all the way through before reading this.
The attitude: "At work I just take time, and all through my coffee break time, I say a little prayer for you." "Together, forever, that's how it must be." "For me there is no one but you, please love me too." The lyrics are a bit more extreme than your average love song, and this relationship seems to be very one-sided. It's apparent, especially in how Aretha sings, that she's crazy for this guy, and constantly worried about his fidelity. Who would spend their entire break praying their man doesn't leave her? During the verses she's on the brink, trying to convince herself everything is ok, and during the choruses she just loses it.
The verses: This song has a much different feel from most soul songs, in large part due to the classical guitar and Burt Bacharach's style, which gives it a relaxed, jazzy vibe (at least during the verses). If you listen with headphones you can remove the right channel to hear the guitar on the left, and you can remove the left to hear the piano on the right. The two instruments are in nearly the same range, so when you hear them together it sounds like one guitar/piano hybrid instrument providing a subtle, delicate combination of chords and melodies, pretty low in the mix. You might think that if something is at low volume it's not as important, but if you listen to just one channel you can hear the effect of removing one of the instruments. If you follow Aretha's melody, and the back-and-forth with the backup singers, the first two verses sound roughly the same. After the double chorus, she comes in with a completely fresh melody for "My darlin' believe me," and her exchange with the backup singers is different too. It seems that after the back-to-back impassioned choruses, she's become even more desperate, resorting to pleading rather than praying.
The chorus: The first one starts at 0:36. Not only is the tone way more intense than the verses, the timing is crazy. It's not easy, but if you try to count the beats during the chorus, you'll count...11. What? Almost all soul music, and pop music in general, is in 4/4 time, like in the verses. I've seen 5, 7, 9 and even 13 once, but I've never seen 11. If you try to nod your head to it, you can do it, but it doesn't feel natural, it feels odd. Right at 0:39, the backup singers sing "and I will love you," and it feels like the beat skips. The beauty of such an intense chorus is that when it drops back into the verse, the verse feels as fresh as it did in the introduction.
The backup singers: They are really the unsung heroes of soul (and rock) music. There's an excellent documentary on Netflix called "20 Feet From Stardom." Up until the soul era, the majority of backup singers where white, and they played primarily a backup role (as you might expect). The migration of gospel singers to backups (although "backup" is not totally accurate) really changed the feel of popular music, as they became much more prominent and injected that soul sound into everything from The Rolling Stones to David Bowie. You can hear in "I Say A Little Prayer" that they are actually replacing Aretha for some of the main lyrics, as they have a beautiful back-and-forth. That's how good they were - they could exchange with the greatest singer of all time.
And Aretha's voice. Right when she comes in - "The moment I wake up" you can tell she's the best. She goes from a power of maybe 3/10 to 5 to 7 to 4 to 5 in just that line, and each of those jumps is pretty significant. It takes immense strength to be able to adjust your volume and intensity like that, not to mention the crystal clear change in pitch. Nobody else in the world can do it like that, and that's why she's #1. She can go from low power, low pitch, to high power, high pitch, seemingly without effort. In other words, her ability to convey emotion is completely unrestricted by normal vocal constraints. Even when it sounds like she's belting it during the choruses, she's probably only at 7/10. If you want to hear an 8 or 9, listen at 2:33. That's how strong her voice is. If she were to push it all the way like everyone else it would be inappropriate.
A Sam Cooke song, showing off more dimensions of her voice - sultry, breathy. The backup singers are once again very prominent, occasionally overtaking Aretha.
_______________________________________________
The songs above represent the heart of soul music, and there are more examples in the playlist below. The traditional soul scene began to fade in the late 1960s with the rise of psychedelic rock (Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd). The following songs demonstrate some of the branches that grew from the great Soul Tree that's still alive today.
#6. Jimmy Cliff - "Many Rivers to Cross" (1969)
Jimmy Cliff wrote this beautiful reggae/soul song, featuring a sweet gospel feel from the backup singers. That repeated "many rivers to cross" line is far from easy to sing; Jimmy has a very unique, enchanting style, and his soulful spirit comes through clearly. He's a soul searcher - after converting from Christianity to Islam many years ago, he now believes in science rather than religion. He released an album a few years ago at the age of 64 called Rebirth that received critical acclaim.
#7. Jackson 5 - "I Want You Back" (1969)
#5. Aretha Franklin - "I Say A Little Prayer For You" (1968)
Aretha has more power and range than Etta James, and her timbre is a little smoother. This was actually not a planned recording - Aretha was just playing around with her backup singers, The Sweet Inspirations, and this fun spirit clicks with the music so well. The music and lyrics of "I Say A Little Prayer For You" were written by Burt Bacharach originally for Dionne Warwick. If you listen to Dionne's version you can get a good sense of how talented Aretha is. This version was produced by a hot-shot executive named Jerry Wexler, who soon after brought Aretha to Muscle Shoals, where her career began to skyrocket. I'm going to break this song down to pieces, because it deserves it. I've heard it countless times now and I still notice new details. I recommend listening to the song all the way through before reading this.
The attitude: "At work I just take time, and all through my coffee break time, I say a little prayer for you." "Together, forever, that's how it must be." "For me there is no one but you, please love me too." The lyrics are a bit more extreme than your average love song, and this relationship seems to be very one-sided. It's apparent, especially in how Aretha sings, that she's crazy for this guy, and constantly worried about his fidelity. Who would spend their entire break praying their man doesn't leave her? During the verses she's on the brink, trying to convince herself everything is ok, and during the choruses she just loses it.
The verses: This song has a much different feel from most soul songs, in large part due to the classical guitar and Burt Bacharach's style, which gives it a relaxed, jazzy vibe (at least during the verses). If you listen with headphones you can remove the right channel to hear the guitar on the left, and you can remove the left to hear the piano on the right. The two instruments are in nearly the same range, so when you hear them together it sounds like one guitar/piano hybrid instrument providing a subtle, delicate combination of chords and melodies, pretty low in the mix. You might think that if something is at low volume it's not as important, but if you listen to just one channel you can hear the effect of removing one of the instruments. If you follow Aretha's melody, and the back-and-forth with the backup singers, the first two verses sound roughly the same. After the double chorus, she comes in with a completely fresh melody for "My darlin' believe me," and her exchange with the backup singers is different too. It seems that after the back-to-back impassioned choruses, she's become even more desperate, resorting to pleading rather than praying.
The chorus: The first one starts at 0:36. Not only is the tone way more intense than the verses, the timing is crazy. It's not easy, but if you try to count the beats during the chorus, you'll count...11. What? Almost all soul music, and pop music in general, is in 4/4 time, like in the verses. I've seen 5, 7, 9 and even 13 once, but I've never seen 11. If you try to nod your head to it, you can do it, but it doesn't feel natural, it feels odd. Right at 0:39, the backup singers sing "and I will love you," and it feels like the beat skips. The beauty of such an intense chorus is that when it drops back into the verse, the verse feels as fresh as it did in the introduction.
The backup singers: They are really the unsung heroes of soul (and rock) music. There's an excellent documentary on Netflix called "20 Feet From Stardom." Up until the soul era, the majority of backup singers where white, and they played primarily a backup role (as you might expect). The migration of gospel singers to backups (although "backup" is not totally accurate) really changed the feel of popular music, as they became much more prominent and injected that soul sound into everything from The Rolling Stones to David Bowie. You can hear in "I Say A Little Prayer" that they are actually replacing Aretha for some of the main lyrics, as they have a beautiful back-and-forth. That's how good they were - they could exchange with the greatest singer of all time.
And Aretha's voice. Right when she comes in - "The moment I wake up" you can tell she's the best. She goes from a power of maybe 3/10 to 5 to 7 to 4 to 5 in just that line, and each of those jumps is pretty significant. It takes immense strength to be able to adjust your volume and intensity like that, not to mention the crystal clear change in pitch. Nobody else in the world can do it like that, and that's why she's #1. She can go from low power, low pitch, to high power, high pitch, seemingly without effort. In other words, her ability to convey emotion is completely unrestricted by normal vocal constraints. Even when it sounds like she's belting it during the choruses, she's probably only at 7/10. If you want to hear an 8 or 9, listen at 2:33. That's how strong her voice is. If she were to push it all the way like everyone else it would be inappropriate.
A Sam Cooke song, showing off more dimensions of her voice - sultry, breathy. The backup singers are once again very prominent, occasionally overtaking Aretha.
_______________________________________________
The songs above represent the heart of soul music, and there are more examples in the playlist below. The traditional soul scene began to fade in the late 1960s with the rise of psychedelic rock (Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd). The following songs demonstrate some of the branches that grew from the great Soul Tree that's still alive today.
#6. Jimmy Cliff - "Many Rivers to Cross" (1969)
Jimmy Cliff wrote this beautiful reggae/soul song, featuring a sweet gospel feel from the backup singers. That repeated "many rivers to cross" line is far from easy to sing; Jimmy has a very unique, enchanting style, and his soulful spirit comes through clearly. He's a soul searcher - after converting from Christianity to Islam many years ago, he now believes in science rather than religion. He released an album a few years ago at the age of 64 called Rebirth that received critical acclaim.
#7. Jackson 5 - "I Want You Back" (1969)
Michael Jackson was 10 years old when he sang this. The bass is just... I can't even explain it...it's pure magic, and it's really the reason this song is so good. MJs voice is amazing, but without this line there is no "I Want You Back." There are some notes that feel off the beat, which is what funk music is all about, but there's not enough to really call this funk. It's R&B pop music, but the singing is certainly soul, and it was #1 on the soul singles chart for four weeks. On top of the bass, piano and funky guitar, the strings come in and just spark everything. I don't think anyone knew how good it would be until they played it.
#8. Janis Joplin - "Cry Baby" (1971)
Janis Joplin is right at the edge of this transition, and was considered "The Queen of Psychedelic Soul." About singing she said "I'm not really thinking much, just sort of, trying to feel," and I think that holds true for all soul singers. During the quiet moments it sounds a lot like traditional soul, but during the more intense sections you can hear all of the instruments get a little more...wild...than, say, Sam Cooke's music. Of course Janis was the star, but everyone in the band really gets their time to shine and show off their personality.
#9. Stevie Wonder - "As" (1976)
This is a beautiful example of Stevie Wonder's soulful style. The synthesized bass and keyboards indicate a new interpretation of soul, but the original spirit of soul was (and still is) alive and well in his voice. You can hear the influence of Ray Charles as his vocals get very gruff towards the middle of the song. Stevie is without a doubt one of the most innovative and prolific pop (by pop I mean anything other than jazz) musicians ever, although Stevie could have played jazz or any other genre. Not only does he have one of greatest voices, he plays many instruments (he was a drumming virtuoso) and produces these songs himself. Everything you hear came from Stevie's head. As opposed to most of the other songs on the post, Stevie knew exactly what this was going to sound like, composing just like Mozart. This album, "Songs In The Key Of Life," is one of the finest works of music out there. Elton John believes that when people look back on music centuries later, they'll mention Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Ray Charles, and Stevie Wonder. I'll get more into Stevie (and Louis and Duke) later.
#10. Mavis Staples - "You Are Not Alone" (2010)
Finally, here is a more modern style of soul, by Mavis Staples (of The Staples Singers). A bit of trivia: Bob Dylan proposed to Mavis. She said no. I imagine their kid would have had a pretty interesting voice. Check out "I'll Take You There" to hear Mavis at her finest. The simplicity of that song is pure genius, especially the bass line.
The playlist is below. If you want to save it, go the the app and click "follow." If people follow it I might add more songs later.
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